Bottles and Bubble Baths

I love that I can pump milk for Peyton and freeze it for times when I need to be away from her. I have been lucky to have a pretty good bank of milk for her and will continue to add to it especially for when I go back to work. Since it takes a lot of planning and effort to pump I really try to use my "liquid gold" wisely and have mostly saved it for date nights. Tonight though I needed some mommy relaxing time (I am incredibly stressed for some reason) and daddy got assigned the late night feeding duty. I advised John that I would be retreating to the bathroom to have a nice hot bath alone while enjoying a nice glass of wine and to make sure to defrost some milk so she could eat. It was an amazing 90 minutes (yes, I was in the bath that long and had to actually add new water so it would stay warm) and it so relaxing. Even though it was supposed to be mommy time with my warm bath, candles, glass of wine...my reading selection ended up being, "What to Expect The First Year." What...I don't have time during the day to read about her upcoming  developments!

Tongue Tied

Peyton has discovered that she has a tongue! She constantly has it out and will lick anything relatively near her. The other night during tummy time, instead of focusing on working her neck muscles she just kept licking the mat. Today every time I looked at her she had her tongue out. Also, this morning we were playing mimic mommy and when I stuck my tongue out she followed. It is so much fun interacting with her more and more. 

Weekend Update

We had a very busy weekend....

On Friday, John took his Friday off so that we could head over to the Galveston County District Clerks office to apply for Peyton's passport. I spent the whole week getting everything together (going to the Reliant area for her birth certificate, making two trips to CVS for pictures since she wouldn't keep her eyes open the first time) and since she is under 16 both parents have to be present to apply for a passport. We got everything done Friday which was a relief. Why is Peyton getting a passport you may ask? Well, she is making her first international trip December 26 to visit her great grandparents in Canada. We will flying into Toronto and driving a couple of hours north to Bracebridge to see them and spend a couple days there and coming home December 31. I am so excited for her to see them and that they will have a chance to meet her and I am excited about bringing her to Canada and she can see where she is also from. I would like to get her a Canadian passport in the future so that is something I need to look into. I have travelled the world and gone on many trips but I am very nervous about this adventure and traveling with an infant. I am hoping these next couple of months I can plan and prepare everything so it can go as smoothly as possible and even with all of that I am prepared to just sit back and laugh when things blow up in our face.

On a side note about Canada...as many of you know, I am Canadian and currently have a permanent residence status in the United States. It has always been my intention to become an American citizen as soon as I was eligible which was this year. We haven't done anything yet due to the cost but the other day my mom asked me what would happen if I stayed Canadian and just stayed a permanent resident of the United States. I don't know the answer but it got me thinking about if I really did want to give up my Canadian citizenship. Yes, if I stayed a permanent resident I would never be able to vote which is something I am very passionate about and would be honored to be able to do but since I have had Peyton I have also realized the importance of heritage. I want my daughter to know she is Canadian and although many people think Canada and the United States are practically the same...they are NOT! They are two distinct countries with different traditions, customs and ways of life. I want her to be proud that she is Canadian and American and it makes me wonder if the right to vote is enough of reason to become American. A big decision that at one time was so easy and now is causing me to think a little harder...

 

This weekend Grandpa Acord and Doreen came from Louisiana to meet Peyton. It was a great weekend of catching up and them getting to spend time with Peyton. I am only hoping that they can make more trips to us or we can make trips to them so they can see her as she grows up. 

Saturday was spent watching lots of football and of course the Texas game. I even made Longhorn shaped sugar cookies for the event. I am so happy we held on and won! Next week should be a good game against Texas Tech and it will bring out the friendly family rivalry with Aunt Ashley. Peyton already has a shirt in the making for the special occasion. Then today, Peyton went to Grandma's so mommy could attend church with everyone instead of sitting in the cry area. She will be going to the nursery (Pee Wee Ville) probably in 3 weeks (I am waiting for her to get her vaccinations) which will allow John and I to attend church with each other but it will be difficult to drop her off for the first time. 

Today will be spent hanging out with Aunt Shannon and Grandma Hill.....tons of family time and I love it!

Hold the cheese, milk, sour cream, pizza, ice cream, yogurt.....

Yesterday I called the pediatrician...on a side note, I am sure the lady at the front desk is annoyed to hear me call once a week, I try to be pleasant and really sweet in hopes that I can win her over and not annoy her too much. Anyways, I called to check on the stool sample results and the results came back and...they were all negative. Although that is great news it doesn't tell us why she is still not having normal bowel movements. The nurse asked me some more questions and then said she would call me back after talking to the doctor. She called me back and this is pretty much what she said, her stomach problem at the beginning probably was a bug but since it is not as severe anymore, it now could be associated with my diet. She asked if I have cut out caffeine (which includes chocolate) which I did about a week ago. I didn't have any caffeine when I was pregnant but quickly realized in those early sleep deprived nights that a cup of coffee goes a long way. Anyways, since cutting out caffeine hasn't fixed anything the next step is to cut out dairy. Ugh! I want Peyton to be comfortable so I will oblige but I am pretty annoyed. I feel like I am more restricted now than I was when I was pregnant. The last time I had some dairy was Friday morning so we will see how this goes. I am really praying that we can figure out is causing her upset tummy and if it is the dairy thing then I am praying for some will power!

7 weeks

Peyton is 7 weeks old today...where has the time gone :( 

I am officially halfway through my maternity leave (I actually have 7 weeks and 1 day) which leaves me with a whole lot of emotions. I am so thankful that I still have 7 more weeks with her as I really couldn't go back to work right now without becoming an emotional mess. I would miss her way too much and she still seems so small to me. Lately I have been so conflicted...part of me is excited that I will be going back to work as I do miss the deadlines, craziness, the people I work with and surprisingly during this time off, I have realized that I actually do enjoy what I do. Work had kind of worn me down and I had forgotten how much I love the crazy parts of my job. The other part of me wonders how in the world we are going to manage everything with two working parents and I wonder how I will be able to be away from Peyton. She is so adorable and so much fun and the idea of being away from her all day breaks my heart. It does help that I will be back at work for only 7 days before we have Christmas holidays (starting December 24 returning January 5)! I am praying that these next seven weeks will continue to be a wonderful bonding time for us, that I make sure to not get too busy with the holiday season and focus on maximizing my time with Peyton and that God prepares me for the transition back to work and gives me peace on how we are going to handle this. 

Enough about emotional mommy...here are some cool things Peyton has been doing lately!

• She is a smiling machine. She smiles all the time now and it absolutely melts my heart!
• She talks back to you! No, she is not a teenager...duh! Instead she makes this "ugh" like sound and when you imitate her she will go on and on making that sound for you. It is adorable and I actually cried when she did it the first time.
• She loves to be held but many times just wants to be left alone. She very much enjoys sitting her bouncer or swing and looking around entertaining herself. I am not sure what she is looking at or does to keep herself interested but she is content.
• Peyton is now sleeping a consistent 5 hour stretch at night followed by a 4 hour stretch which means more predictable sleep for mommy. She is still sleeping in her room in her crib and has easily made the transition.
• We are still struggling with keeping her awake during the day. We are having more success but not nearly enough as she is wide awake from 8-11 PM.
• She continues to try and move while on her tummy instead of working on her neck skills but even with her desire to get moving she has lifted her head more and more. Still something we need to continue to work on though.
• She is starting to hold onto things you put in her hands and it really shocks her when she moves her hand and the thing moves with her (especially if it is a rattle that makes noise)

Fall Photo Shoot

Peyton had her first photo shoot today. Since she is still more alert at night than in the day I wanted to make sure we took the time to get some good shots of her Halloween attire and other cute fall pictures. She was perfect and actually had a pretty good time (I am basing that assumption off of her smiles and coos). Enjoy a sampling of the pictures below and you can find more by clicking here.

Hip Times at TCH

Today we headed down to the medical center to Texas Children's Hospital for Peyton's follow up appointment for her hip. When she was born she was born breeched at since her legs were up by her ears and had been like that for awhile she had a dislocated hip. The recommended course of treatment was to visit a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and determine whether she would have to wear a brace for a couple a months. We had our first appointment a month ago where we had x-rays which didn't show anything and the doctor didn't feel anything. In order to be thorough we had an ultrasound (they are more precise at this young age) and follow up appointment today. Peyton was a champ during the ultrasound and pretty much slept through the whole thing. We saw the doctor later and he said the ultrasound look great and after feeling her hip movement said he didn't feel anything either. Pretty much her hip healed on its own and there would be no further treatment. Praise the Lord! I truly believe that God has answered all of our prayers and took care of Peyton so we wouldn't have to go through with the whole brace process. Also being down at TCH and seeing so many other children who are a whole lot more sick than Peyton makes us thank the Lord for delivering us a healthy girl. It was a great day and many reasons to smile (hence her outfit).

Christmas Already?

Today we took a family trip to the mall. I desperately needed a hair cut and had an appointment at 11:00 and then we went around and looked for a Christmas dress for Peyton. Yes, we have already purchased a Christmas dress and it isn't even November. I remember when I used to work in retail (at a children's store) that the infant dresses went quickly especially the smaller sizes so I didn't want to wait. We found a pretty cute dress for her to wear and are now in the hunt for a matching sweater, tights and little black shoes. 

A couple of other updates....

Peyton has her ultrasound on her hip tomorrow morning at Texas Children's followed by a follow up visit with the pediatric orthopedic surgeon. Last time we were there he didn't feel the hip dislocation and the x-rays showed nothing. That was a huge praise but my biggest concern is that we are missing something. Please pray that it is evident from this next visit whether everything healed on its own or if the dislocation is still there. 

Another prayer request is Peyton's possible infant reflux. I brought this up to the pediatrician last week and the doctor said it could very well be infant reflux but until we cure the tummy bug we are not sure if the symptoms I am seeing are from that or are a cause of reflux. She has always had the hiccups but they have gotten more forceful and it sounds like milk is coming up when she has them, in addition to the hiccups she has had some forceful vomiting after feedings, increased fussiness while eating as well as decreasing the amount of time she is feeding. I have been doing some research on infant reflux and have implemented some of the comforting tips but those only help so much. Since we have her two month check up in a couple of weeks, I have started a journal to help track what  I am seeing so we can bring that in and see what we can do. The most probable course of action based off of what the pediatrician mentioned at our last visit would be prescribing Zantac. In the meantime, pray that we can comfort Peyton, that she continues to eat enough and that if it is infant reflux we can start the right treatment soon.

City Girl

Today was our first trip downtown with Peyton! We have always wanted to go to the Bayou City Art Festival and have never made it out so we packed everything up and headed downtown with my mom to visit the festival. It was a beautiful day out and Peyton had a great time sleeping/looking around in her stroller and the adults enjoyed the various artists. It was a great afternoon out and about!

Tonight we will be watching the UT vs. Missouri game and hoping that Texas can pull out a win. Since Peyton has gotten a little bit bigger she somewhat fits her little UT dress. Mostly I put her in it tonight since I know it will be getting colder and she needs to wear it before it is too late.

RUNNING AGAIN!!

Yesterday was my six week postpartum checkup and I got the all clear! Everything has healed great and I was told I start running again! I made sure Peyton was feed and happy when John got home so I could take off. 

Titus and I headed out with great expectations to at least run to my mom's house and back (about 1.5 miles) and when I got to the lake by our house I quickly realized that since my legs felt like Jello and my heart felt like it was about to explode I needed to set a different goal so we ran about a 1/4 of the way around the lake (all the way around is a mile) and headed home. I figured I probably did 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile. Titus felt great and was so happy to be running with me but I felt worse than I did after the Houston 1/2 marathon (did I really run 13.1 miles less than a year ago?). At first I was a little discouraged but John help me reminded myself that I did just have a baby and just had major surgery six weeks ago and just by heading out there was a huge success. My goal is to get back to running four times a week and slowly build up time and distance and hopefully get in shape to run a half marathon on Valentine's Day (either the Austin 1/2 marathon or Surfside). 

Operation Collection a Success!

As an update to the last post...we have been successful in obtaining three viable stool samples for Peyton and they are at the lab and should be expecting results by Wednesday of next week.

What a crazy couple of days it has been! No matter how many parenting books or "What to Expect" books I read prior to her arrival, nothing prepared me for having to get stool samples from your six week old baby. I quickly realized Thursday morning that depending on obtaining samples from her diaper were not going to work since diapers are so absorbent so I decided to be creative and used a common household item to put in her diaper to assist. What would that be you may wondering...cling wrap. Yes, the same thing you use to cover left overs. I know it sounds crazy and messy (trust me it was) but when you are desperate for three vials of stool within 48 hours you will do anything. 

Well, I had a doctor's appointment that morning and my mom had agreed to watch Peyton (prior to finding out about having to collect the samples) so I dropped her off and secretly hoped that she would have at least one messy diaper while I was gone as I was tired of this whole process. I got my wish and we were well on our way until last night when the poop stopped! NO! So, all night long she had her cling wrap diaper contraption on which lead to lots of leaking diapers and consequently wetting herself through her clothes and blankets and waking up out of discomfort which means no sleep for mommy. We finally finished everything up this afternoon and my mom graciously came over (she most really love us to pick up her phone and agree to come over after yesterday) to give Peyton a bath while I ran the samples over to the lab. 

Peyton is such a trooper and I feel so bad for her and all she has had to go through with all of the doctor's appointments, the hurricane evacuation and now this but we now have a clean, cling wrap free and happier baby. 

You want me to do what?

As a disclaimer, this post will once again discuss newborn bowel movements and might be a little gross....

So, yesterday Peyton and I were having a great morning with a 9:00 AM feeding, a nice bath, story time in her glidder to help her get ready for her nap and she was falling asleep when all of the sudden, two hours after she ate, she started vomiting everything and everywhere. It was coming out her nose, mouth and drenched me and her. After everything stopped and I calmed her down slightly, I cleaned us all up, calmed her down more for a nap, got myself in the shower and then decided to call the pediatrician. I know that all babies spit up every once in awhile but she had a similar episode last week at the mall (at least there she was contained in a car seat so I was not a victim) and she still has not had any formed bowel movements. I had called on Monday telling the nurse that she still hadn't had a formed bowel movements and although the dirty diapers were less they were still not normal. She told me not to worry and that it should be fine soon. Well, after the vomiting episode today I decided that we needed to call one more time and the nurse actually asked me to come in again.

We packed everything up and headed over there yesterday afternoon and they checked her weight again to ensure she was growing....and is she ever...she is 9 pounds 10.5 ounces! She has gained about a 1 pound 3 ounces since October 3! Then we met with the doctor and were advised that since this tummy bug hasn't gone away yet we needed to do some stool samples to test for various things. Easy enough...right? NOT! So, I have three vials with some liquid in them that I need to add stool to in order to raise the liquid to a red line and you have within 48 hours to get the vial to the lab. This would be easy if you are an adult but when you have a baby who has diarrhea and is in an absorbent diaper it is next to impossible. We waited all night (note: we no longer have a life) for her to go potty and once we heard something immediately pulled off her diaper (we kind of scared her since she was in the middle of a feeding) and tried to use the scoop to get something out (this is really so gross) and pretty much were very unsuccessful. I have absolutely no idea how we are going to fill one vial let alone three. All this to say, as weird as it sounds, please pray for us that we can get everything together to take to the lab so they can run the appropriate tests and Peyton can get better.

Moving Out...

No we are not moving but Peyton has moved on out of our room and into her room! 

Since she has been home she has been sleeping in our room at night in the bassinet part of her Pack n' Play (pretty much a portable crib with a changing table attachment) and having some of her naps in her nursery. It has worked out amazingly and I would highly recommend a similar situation for any new mom especially if you are recovering from a Cesarean. It really helped not having to walk too far to get her when she wakes or got fussy and be able to do everything within a couple of feet from my bed. Overall I think having her nearby helped a ton with recovery. Well, now that she is sleeping/waking at consistent times (3:00 AM and then again at 6:30-7:00 AM) and doesn't fuss when you do put her down, I decided that she should start sleeping in her own crib. Monday night was her first night and she did great and then Tuesday night was another success for both of us! 

Happy Anniversary

Two years ago today John and I stood in front of our friends, family and God and were married. What a wild two years! During the first year we decided shortly after our wedding to put money down to have our house built, that January I started a new job, and we closed on our house in April. Then during year two we decided to start a family and found out we were expecting in January and have spent the year preparing for Peyton's arrival. It has been two years of many changes and many ups and downs but we wouldn't change it all. We feel so blessed to have had supportive families, encouraging friends, a strong church and a growing relationship with the Lord to help us navigate marriage. We are excited about year number three and have decided that Lord willing it will be a quiet year with no additional life changes...I think we need a break!

We celebrated our anniversary by going out to dinner Sunday night. We dropped Peyton off with Grandma with her gear and a bottle and headed over to a favorite local restaurant, Villa Capri on Clear Lake and enjoyed a great dinner out on the patio by the water. We actually went to Villa Capri for our anniversary last year and things were just as enjoyable this year but they have done a little remodeling and this year and we had some new patio decorations.....

Yes, that is a boat that was tossed up on the patio from the Hurricane! Crazy! It was a wonderful night out and Peyton did amazing for Grandma and devoured her bottle so all was well! Today we didn't do anything special and just enjoyed dinner at home and spending time with Peyton. 

The Baby Whisperer

Just after Peyton was born someone recommended the book Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect and Communicate with Your Baby by Tracy Hogg. I just finished it the other day and I highly recommend it. 

It has some of the similar principles of the BabyWise books but were a couple of things in the BabyWise book  that I disagreed with and the Baby Whisperer was more in line with with my views on sleep and how to respond to crying during sleep time. Overall though this book implements a schedule called EASY (eat, activity, sleep and then your time) which is similar to BabyWise's Eat, Play, Sleep but beyond that has really great tips on bonding and interacting with your baby during those times. 

The book also has some interesting quizzes on helping you determine what kind of baby you have (angel, textbook, touchy, grumpy) and gives you personality profiles that help you respond appropriately to your infant. It also has a quiz to help you understand your personality and how it relates to schedules so that you can be aware of what level of structure you need in your life.

Overall a great read and I highly recommend!

Poop on Stoops

Today was Peyton's first Texas vs Oklahoma Red River Rivalry and what a great first game for her! Texas won 45 to 35!

We originally thought that it would just be the ladies of the house watching the game since daddy has had a pretty crazy week at work and it looked like he would be working today but turns out he didn't have to go in today and didn't have to miss out on the fun. We packed everyone up (including her longhorn Cooper) and went over to Grandma's to watch the game in her new media room (the screen is huge) and we had a blast. Tons of food and a great game! Auntie Ashley and her boyfriend Hardy came over towards the end of the game so we got to spend time with everyone and also watch some of the Tech vs. Nebraska game. Peyton spent the first quarter in mommy's lap watching the game and then pretty much slept the rest of the game with a little snack in the middle.

I made a shirt for Peyton to wear that matched the shirts that John and I got nearly four years ago when I went to the game for the first time (there are more pictures under the "Peyton One to Two Months" link). Overall it was a great day and Hook 'em Horns!

 

Bottle Success!!

There are lots of opinions out there on when to introduce the bottle (after six weeks, between four-six weeks, a couple of weeks before you need it etc) but after much thought and some research I decided that we would introduce it this week. I know that some babies have a difficult time with it so I didn't want to wait too long since she will need to learn how to take a bottle for when I return to work. I was pretty confident that she would do fine since she did have to have to have her feedings supplemented with formula for the first five days or so and she has had no problems with breast feeding and sucks her pacifier like crazy. Even with all of that I was a little nervous because we ended up with some trouble with taking the bottle once we came home from the hospital and had to supplement feedings for two-three additional days. At the hospital she took the bottle like a champ and then when we came home all of the bottles (I had three different brands) I had her were too wide for her mouth and she just didn't do very well. Since then I have done some research and found great reviews on Dr Brown's Natural Flow Bottles so I picked up one the other day and we tried it last night. We waited until an evening feeding (9:00 PM) when she is normally getting a little hungry but isn't too grumpy and John offered her the bottle and she didn't flinch at all. The bottle only had a little bit in it because I didn't want to waste milk if she didn't take it so I finished feeding her afterwards. We will continue trying the bottle at least once a week but so far so good!

5 weeks already?

It is weird..part of me can't believe that it has already been five weeks as I feel like it was just the other day that we were in the hospital but at the same time, with the hurricane, it feels like Peyton is so much older. I also can't believe that if we were not able for me to take some unpaid time off that I would be going back to work after next week. I feel so blessed that we can afford for me to take some unpaid time off and that I was able to save my vacation to extend my time at home with her. These past five weeks have been great and I am excited about spending another eight weeks watching her grow and discover things!

So, Peyton is five weeks old today and here are some of her developments in these five weeks:

• I don't think I blogged about this but she had her first smile on September 22 and since then has given us some real smiles here and there. She is still not consistent in giving them but they are the cutest thing and melt my heart when we get to see one.
• She found her hands last week and is now sucking on her fingers whenever she has a chance or when mom is taking too long getting ready to feed. 
• She does not let you swaddle her with her hands contained anymore. For the past two weeks or so, she must be swaddled with her hands out or you risk a serious temper tantrum. Since she has her hands out she can normally be found asleep her hand resting on her cheek and looking adorable.
• She is starting to make noises beyond grunting and makes some really funny sounds when she is falling asleep and loves it when you mimic the sounds back to her
• Yesterday she lifted her head while on her tummy for the first time! She is so strong! 
• She loves to look around and hates to be cradled in your arms. Her favorite position is sitting up like she is about to be burped so she can look around. 
• She loves bath time!
• She is still a sleepy baby who needs to be encouraged to stay awake and play during the day. Even though she sleeps a bunch during the day she is sleeping four to five hour stretches at night which is great!
• She loves to move when she is awake and constantly kicks her feet and moves her hands which I find amusing since she was not active while I was pregnant.

Make sure to check out the blog later this weekend for pictures of Peyton's first Texas vs. OU game. She has a pretty sweet shirt to wear for the celebrations!

Listen to the music...

Last night Peyton went to her first concert and was great! Shannon had her fall choir concert at Clear Creek High School and they were amazing. The whole performance was really well done especially when you consider what short amount of time they had to put it on and that the hurricane took a couple of weeks away of class time. Peyton was wide awake for the first three songs and just looked around in wonder and then went to sleep for the rest of it. She did throw her hands up whenever everyone applauded mostly because it startled her. It was great to be able to go and hear my sister especially since I have felt like I have missed out on so much with her living so far away. I am so happy everyone lives here now!

I want to RUN!

About two years ago I fell in love with running. After graduating from college I decided to try something new and something that I always thought I couldn't do and started running with a group. Since then I have done six half marathons and a bunch of other races and love how it challenges me and how great I feel afterwards. When I got pregnant I ran the Houston half marathon (at four weeks) and then ran off and on until it got too uncomfortable. Well, now that I am no longer pregnant I am dying to run and am counting down the days until my six week postpartum visit on October 16 and the go ahead to start exercising. I will be heading over to On the Run sometime this week or next to get fitted for new shoes so I will be all ready once I get the doctor's go ahead.

Also, we ordered my birthday present the other day, a running stroller. I decided to go ahead

with the Schwinn Free Runner LT which has an onboard computer to track your workouts and an audio hook up with speakers so both mommy and baby can jam out to music while running. It will be a little while until Peyton is big enough to go running in it with me but having it here will give me incentive to get started on running so I am in shape to use it with her when she is old enough. I love our walks together now and am looking forward to many hours running with her!

Who Needs Color?

In order to help with Peyton's visual stimulation and eye movements I found some images from a web site that are black and white, high contrast images designed to help develop vision. I found them on www.baby.zorger.com and printed them off and then used them during our activity time today and she was fascinated. She already had been picking our contrasting images and focusing on them (black and white photos on the wall by our couch, a piece of art at my mom's house etc) but since these are movable I could bring them closer to her and also move them up and down to have her track the images. She had a blast! I am planning on putting some up by her changing table and other places for her to look at various times!

If Baby Ain't Happy...

If you read my last blog entry you know that Peyton went to the doctor's office on Friday because she has come down with some tummy troubles (diahera). Well that night she made it known that she was not a happy girl. Since she was eating less because her stomach hurt she was eating every two hours during the day and that continued Friday night which alone doesn't leave much time for sleeping and between those feedings she just cried and strained which was heart breaking. John pretty much took her between feedings and I tried to sleep some but we all didn't get much sleep. Since she didn't sleep hardly at all Friday she was even more fussy because she was so tired so Saturday morning we put her in the stroller and went for a walk to force her to go to sleep. It worked and we were able to get some more naps in Saturday which made for a happier family. Saturday night went better mostly because I decided to do whatever it took to get her asleep even if it meant using the swing to get her to sleep (I really have been trying not use props like the swing etc to get her to sleep so she learns to fall asleep on her own). So, I made a bed on the floor next to the swing but her in the swing and we all went to sleep. About an hour later she fussed and I took her out and put her on my make shift bed and we slept for another four hours! She only woke up because I woke her up to feed! 

Today she was very sleepy, more congested and I also noticed a slight cough. Since I had noticed Saturday night her dirty diapers being more frequent I decided to start writing them down to track what was going on. Well today I noticed that she was having dirty diapers every two hours and not as much wet ones as she normally does. Combined with her cough, increased nasal congestion and extreme sleepiness we decided to call the nurses line to make sure she wasn't getting worse. Well, they advised us to take her into the ER to make sure she wasn't becoming dehydrated so around 6:30 PM we headed to Clear Lake Regional. Three hours and a hefty co-pay later, we were on our way. Pretty much she looks like she is fighting off this bug really well and there is no signs of dehydration and that we just need to continue to do what we have been and she should start feeling better tomorrow or Tuesday.

It has been pretty hard to watch her be in so much pain and have her cry and us not be able to do anything about it but hopefully she is almost done with this nasty bug and will be back her normal happy self. Please pray that she continues to get better and that we have the strength to take care of her and comfort her.

Tummy Troubles

The past couple of days I have noticed Peyton being a little more fussy and unhappy than she normally is. She normally only cries for food or when she has a gas pain and needs to be burped but lately I noticed that she was crying at random times that didn't make sense and that she just looked uncomfortable. Also, she has been feeding less but more frequently. She used to take both sides and last a solid three hours and now she is only feeding on one side, screaming when I offer the other and then lasting two hours. Finally, yesterday I noticed that her soiled diapers were very runny and no longer healthy yellow seeding bowel movements (amazing how when you have a baby you are no longer grossed out by describing bowel movements). 

Well, today after another cranky period and another nasty diaper, I took her temperature which was only slightly elevated but when I thought about everything that has been going on the past couple of days, I called the doctor's office and they asked me to bring her in. 

We headed over there this afternoon and she was weighed (she is now 8 pounds 7.5 ounces...she has gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks!), had her temperature checked (normal) and then we talked to her pediatrician. Turns out that he has seen a couple of other infants come into the hospital within the past two days with similar symptoms yet they had flu like symptoms prior to the diarrhea which Peyton wasn't really showing. So he checked her out and she does have a some nasal congestion and her stomach sounded a little too active/upset so she probably has an upset an upset tummy. He advised me to just watch her these next couple of days for any change (vomiting, fever, increase in flu symptoms etc) but other than that there wasn't much to do. He did say that the reason she was eating less and more frequent was because infants when they have an upset stomach will naturally reduce how much they eat. 

We are back home and she is still cranky but understandably so please pray that we can comfort her these next couple of days and that she gets better soon!

Four Weeks

I can't believe Peyton is four weeks old today! Time has flown by! Today we are heading out to do some errands with my mom and then pick up my dad at the airport and I put her in an outfit that she wore to her first doctor's appointment. When she wore it the first time it was huge and the pants was almost double her size, well, today we put the same outfit on and the pants fit! She has grown so much! 

25 and so blessed

Today I celebrated my 25th birthday and I can't help but sit back and think about how incredibly blessed I am. Already at 25 I have been blessed with a wonderful husband, a home, a good job, great friends, a growing church home, a loving family and finally a beautiful little girl. 

To celebrate Peyton and I started the day with a walk and then some great play time. This afternoon my mom came

 over and we gave Peyton her first big girl bath. She loved it! She was so alert and at peace in the water and then she loved getting her baby lotion massage afterwards. This afternoon my office called me to wish me Happy Birthday. It was so nice to know that they were thinking about me and it made me miss them! Then tonight John brought home dinner, flowers and we had some birthday cake. John got me a jogging stroller for my birthday which is really exciting! He hasn't ordered it yet because I am still deciding between a couple of brands so it isn't here but I can't use it for awhile so it is not a big deal. I am pretty excited though and will be looking forward to many runs with Peyton! Since my dad is in Canada doing errands for the past couple of days and will be back until tomorrow we decided to hold off to celebrating with my family until tomorrow night so everyone will be over for Fajitas and more birthday celebrating tomorrow night. 

Overall it was a good birthday...pretty low key but the best part is that I got to celebrate with my daughter...how cool is that!

Eat...Play...Sleep

Many of the books that I have read and advice I have received from other moms suggest implementing a routine of some sorts for your baby. Although I am not one for the super strict schedule, I do see the need for some predictability for Peyton and also for myself. From day one we have been on feeding schedule of 2.5-3 hours and sometimes a little earlier if I see she is giving me hunger cues etc. but other than that she has been able to sleep when she wants. This past week or so we have been working on a new approach so that she is awake more during the day which is great for several reasons, one, I can interact with her and teach her things and two, she will be less likely to be wide awake all night long. So we are working on the Eat, Play and then Sleep routine. Peyton has the eating and sleeping portions down but it is still a huge challenge to keep her awake to play for a significant length of time consistently. Sometimes she will not wake up not matter what you do, sometimes it is for five minutes and sometimes it is for a full hour. Overall though we are having more day time interactions and for the most part she is sleeping four to five hour stretches at night. 

Since we have been able to have more day time activities here are some of the things I have learned about Peyton...overall she is a very relaxed baby and is content to look around

and just lay there but while laying there she has to be moving and is constantly moving her hands, kicking her feet, grunting and just being active. It is interesting! She adapts remarkably well to wherever she is and will nap wherever...including really loud restaurants, around barking dogs and anywhere you put her. Peyton also loves it when we sit her up on our laps, she loves to look around and try to hold her head up herself. Finally, she is a vocal little girl! She is always grunting, sighing and making all kinds of noises...it is highly amusing! Finally she is a clown, she loves to stick her tongue out (as you can see in the picture), make funny faces and just be silly!